Indian Moon mission's lander module gets separated from spacecraft

The lander module got successfully separated from India's Moon Mission's (Chandrayaan-3) spacecraft, the country's space agency Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

Now, the lander module is scheduled for soft-landing on the Moon's surface on Aug. 23.

In a critical step, the lander module, comprising the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, will now be lowered to an orbit that takes it closer to the Moon's surface.

The Moon Mission-3's spacecraft was launched on July 14 and it entered into Lunar orbit on Aug. 5, following which orbit reduction manoeuvres were carried out on Aug. 6, 9 and 14. On Aug. 16, the spacecraft successfully underwent its fifth and final Lunar-bound orbit manoeuvre.

The separation of the lander module from the propulsion module on Thursday was one of the crucial steps of the Moon Mission.